Transformational leadership is inclusive in that it emphasizes vision, inspiration, and individualized support. By reframing leadership to value collaboration and empathy alongside decisiveness, organizations can broaden their understanding of effective leadership and reduce reliance on outdated stereotypes.
Transformational leadership is about unlocking organizational potential. Biased leadership stifles creativity, reduces employee engagement, and perpetuates inequality. Inclusive leadership, on the other hand, fosters trust, innovation, and resilience in today’s diverse workplaces. It is critical that any training in this area focuses on the positive consequences of transformational leadership and building the necessary skills to achieve it.
Leaders can be guided toward more inclusive, effective leadership through awareness, training, accountability, and cultural change.
7 Strategies to Build Inclusive Transformational Leaders Skills
- Raise awareness through education. Provide bias training that highlights how stereotypes affect decision-making, team morale, and innovation. This is best done by using real-world case studies to show the negative impact of bias on organizational performance.
- Encourage self-reflection and feedback. In small leadership groups, encourage leaders to reflect on their own assumptions and how these may unconsciously shape their choices. A cohort of women in one of my Master Mind groups pointed out that my success was due to having a feminine leadership style. I now ask groups of leaders to describe if such a difference is real. What do they think characterizes a male vs. female leadership style and which style do they think they practices and how does that manifest in how they lead? It’s also important to implement 360-degree feedback systems so leaders hear directly from peers and subordinates about biased behaviors. These anonymous employee surveys capture perceptions of fairness and inclusivity. Based on the 360 feedback, implement regular coaching sessions to discuss feedback and set improvement goals.
- Leverage mentorship and role modeling. Pair leaders with mentors or coaches who exemplify inclusive leadership practices and encourage shadowing opportunities to observe diverse leadership styles. Create peer learning groups where leaders share experiences and strategies they are trying to implement.
- Redefine your leadership competencies. Shift organizational culture to value both agency (assertiveness) and community (empathy). Using this model, update performance evaluations to reward inclusive behaviors rather than only traditional “command-and-control” styles.
- Create accountability systems. Establish clear policies against discrimination and hold leaders accountable for biased actions. By tying inclusive metrics to promotion and compensation decisions, leaders have incentives to change.
- Foster inclusive environments. Encourage leaders to listen actively and create spaces where diverse voices are heard. Promote team diversity as a strength, showing factual cases when varied perspectives lead to better problem solving and innovation.
- Promote continuous learning. Transformation leadership training requires ongoing training, workshops, and dialogue. To promote transformational leadership, encourage participation in cross-cultural experiences to broaden perspectives and reduce reliance on stereotypes.
Any attempt to develop transformational leadership skills without attention to inclusion is ignoring one of the key factors for organizational and leadership success.
Please share any cases where you have had success or challenges with building transformational leadership skills with me at: Neal@NealGoodmanGroup.com
